I see wood ducks at the pond on one of my morning walk routes. I thought they had disappeared from the pond, but it turns out they're only really here for the late summer/fall. That's the good thing about walking a lot over time, I guess -- you get to know the seasons of a place.
The drakes are quite shy, but that's understandable. They're extremely colorful, with their green helmets, red eyes, tan bellies and blue wing patches. The hens blend in a little bit more easily with the other ducks (mallards, mostly), so they're more likely to hang around and let you watch them for a while.
Doodled from my amazing new bird book, Birds of North America (American Museum of Natural History).
Interesting (and completely unrelated) tidbit: I went to get a manicure (and dinner) with a girlfriend last night, and I made the uncharacteristic decision to have my nails painted with a color instead of sheer pink -- my burgundy nails change the appearance of my hands which has the (not altogether unexpected) effect of freaking out our cockatoo. Poor B!
